Star Wars The Last Jedi Opens In China With Disappointing Box Office Results

Despite Star Wars: The Last Jedi apparently dividing the fandom in two, the movie is coming out to be one of the most profitable films of 2017; but as it turns out, the film isn’t doing so hot in the Chinese box office.

Variety is reporting that The Last Jedi had only grossed $28.7 million during its opening weekend in China, falling short to the local comedy The Ex-File: The Return of the Exes — which has apparently kept its top spot despite its second weekend at the box office.

With Force Awakens opening at $52 million and Rogue One at $30 million, it seems the second-largest box-office market is losing its interest in Star Wars. Ironic considering that The Last Jedi is the first movie in the sequel trilogy to introduce an Asian as one of the main characters (Rose).

Of course, this could only be a minor setback. After all, the movie has already passed $1.2 billion in ticket sales and could possibly come out as one of the top five highest grossing movies of all time. With the response of the Chinese market, however, I’m curious about what that means to future Star Wars films.